But, providing he comes through a schooling session at Ditcheat on Monday, he is now almost certain to meet reigning Champion Long Run in an Ali-esque attempt to gain back a third title at the ripe old age of 12.

Daily updates on his wellbeing have absorbed the nation and even the Queen, with her expert eye, sat glued to his early evening Wincanton gallop on Racing UK on Friday.

It is hard to see anything else – even the blessed whip – eclipsing this year’s Betfred Gold Cup on Friday.

It currently stands at two apiece between Kauto Star and Long Run and it looks like a decider but, in racing, something usually comes out of the woodwork to dash such simple predictions.

Midnight Chase, a consistent honest to goodness chaser who loves Cheltenham, looks the each-way value of the race.

It will also be announced on Monday if a possible fly in the ointment, David Pipe’s dashing grey, Grands Crus, joins them in going for gold, which would make it an intriguing three-way contest, or sticks to novice company in the RSA Chase.

But even he ended up loose on the schooling ground on Friday after unseating Tom Scudamore, a timely, telling reminder of his inexperience.

The happiest ending is that Kauto Star triumphs gloriously for one last time and rides off into the sunset.

After the fortnight connections have endured it is not hard to imagine, win or lose, that he will be retired on the spot – if only for the sake of their own nerves and blood pressure.

Scripts in the shadow of Cleeve hill, however, are rarely written in the gilded ink of Hollywood, they are imprinted in the cold mud of the Gloucester vale.

Realistically, even though Paul Nicholls seems to be feeding him the elixir of eternal youth, in equine terms Kauto Star is in free bus-pass territory and last week’s bruising cannot have helped his cause.

The last 12 year -old to win it was What A Myth in 1969.

There are, of course, 24 races to be run before Kauto Star takes centre stage, two dozen equine reputations to be made, many more to be dashed and multiple-choice questions to be answered.

Is Sprinter Sacre really racing’s next big thing as I believe he is? Will Hunt Ball or Buena Vista, going for a third Pertemps, jock off the box office names?

Can his stable companion Quevega win a fourth OLBG Mares’ Hurdle before Big Buck’s wins a fourth Ladbrokes World Hurdle, a victory which would see him equal Sir Ken’s National Hunt record of 16 straight wins?

Or will Oscar Whisky stop him within touching distance?

In the subtext of the trainers’ title, that is just one of many intriguing clashes between Nicholls and Nicky Henderson – which begins when Al Ferof meets Sprinter Sacre in the Arkle on Tuesday and climaxes with Kauto Star versus Long Run on Friday.

With 39 Festival winners since he started training in 1978, Henderson is just one short of Fulke Walwyn’s all-time record of 40.

With a fair wind behind him he should, at least, equal that landmark by close of play on Tuesday when the transport leaving Lambourn will contain Darlan, Sprinter Sacre, Quantitativeeasing, Binocular and Triolo D’Alene, all due to start first or second favourites on day one.

Willie Mullins, leading trainer at the meeting with four winners last year, heads the Irish challenge but raiders from the Emerald Isle will do well to equal last year’s record-smashing haul of 13 winners.

Jockeys looking to make their mark on a Festival for the first time include Lucy Alexander, who has been riding winners on an almost daily basis in the north recently, who has not yet graced Cheltenham as a jockey.

Maybe teenage prodigy Brendan Powell will steal the show with the maturity of his riding.

Will we get through the week without a whip ban? No chance – even with the stewards’ new-found powers of discretion.

British jockeys have adapted well in the six months since the draconian rules were introduced and which have been watered down to a more palatable mixture.

Cheltenham is so big that the win-at-all-costs aspects of this rule will be tested to its limit while at least a quarter of all jockeys will be coming over from Ireland where there are no such rules or limits.

If I have one wish for the coming week, however, it is that this is the last you’ll read of the whip and the last I write of it.